The present invention relates to a method for banding groups of bank notes.
The present invention is advantageously applied on machines which arrange bank notes into groups then transfer them to a banding machine which applies at least one retaining band to each group of bank notes.
As is known, the institutes which issue bank notes, also known as the central banks, and commercial banks have to handle large quantities of paper money every day. For this purpose, the bank notes are first divided into groups, then placed in bags or boxes for transportation.
To hold such groups together and transport them without the risk of the notes separating and also in order to prevent tampering, bands are applied to them, securing them in position and preventing theft from them.
For this purpose, bank notes are loaded into the above-mentioned machines in succession and, once checked and divided according to their value and/or type, are sent on to the various group formation channel outfeeds.
Stacks which have a substantially parallelepiped configuration and a given stacking axis form at each of these outfeeds and, when a given number of bank notes is reached, defining one of the above-mentioned groups, they are picked up and transferred to a banding station, where a band is applied to each group.
Alternatively, the above-mentioned machines may be fed, at the infeed of each forming channel, with a succession of bundles of bank notes previously checked and banded, so that blocks of bundles of bank notes are formed at the outfeed of each of the machine forming channels, instead of blocks of individual bank notes. Like the above-mentioned groups of bank notes, the blocks of bundles are then picked up and transferred to the banding station.
Each group of bank notes or block of bundles is normally held together by one or more parallel bands, each applied around the group in such a way that they make contact with two surfaces which are transversal to said axis, one upper and one lower, and two lateral surfaces, opposite one another and parallel with the stacking axis.
Where only one band is used, it is applied around the group in a substantially central position. If two bands are used, they are normally applied at the two ends of the group.
For the above reasons, banding must be rapid, precise and must provide a strong finished product. For this reason, another band is applied, wrapped around the group in such a way that it lies transversally to the others.
However, it has been observed that, despite the application of bands using the above methods, one of the two bands may be taken off without tearing, allowing the removal of one or more bank notes. The band may then be replaced in its original position, wrapped around the stack, without leaving a trace of the theft which has taken place.
The aim of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for banding groups of bank notes arranged in stacks which have a substantially parallelepiped configuration and a defined stacking axis, the method comprising the steps of applying at least one first retaining band around the stack, in contact with two surfaces which are transversal to the stacking axis and two first lateral surfaces which are parallel with the axis, and of applying at least one second retaining band around the stack, in contact with the two transversal surfaces and two second lateral surfaces which are substantially perpendicular to the first lateral surfaces, in such a way as to obtain a zone at which the portions of the first and second bands overlap on each of the two opposite transversal surfaces. The overlapping portions of the two bands are then sealed together on at least one of the transversal surfaces.
The present invention also relates to a unit for banding groups of bank notes arranged in stacks which have a substantially parallelepiped configuration and a defined stacking axis, the unit comprising a banding unit located downstream of a machine for forming said stacks. The banding unit in turn comprises means for receiving and gripping each stack which operate in conjunction with a banding machine and are mobile through a plurality of operating positions in order to apply at least a first retaining band around the stack, in contact with two surfaces which are transversal to the stacking axis and two first lateral surfaces which are parallel with the axis, and at least one second retaining band around the stack, in contact with the two transversal surfaces and the two second lateral surfaces which are substantially perpendicular to the first lateral surfaces. This is done in order to obtain zones at which the portions of the first and second bands overlap on each of the two opposite transversal surfaces. The unit also comprises sealing means which, for each of the band overlapping zones, have sealing parts positioned opposite at least one of the transversal surfaces of the stack. These sealing means seal the overlapping portions of the two bands together on at least one of the transversal surfaces.